This paper presents a numerical analysis of natural convection dominated melting inside a rectangular enclosure coupled with forced convection heat transfer in a transport fluid via a finite conductance heat exchanging surface. A computational methodology based on a stream function-vorticity-temperature formulation is adopted and the irregular shape of the moving solid-liquid interface is treated with body-fitted coordinates. The model is then employed to investigate the interaction between natural convection in the PCM filled cavity and forced convection in the HTF. Numerical experiments were carried out for Rayleigh numbers, Ra, between 2.08‧108 and 4.60‧109, modified Reynolds numbers, Re between 4.23 and 423.0, wall-PCM thermal diffusivity ratios, α, between 5.0 and 10.0 and dimensionless wall thickness, w, between 0.005 and 0.05. Results show that the melting process is increasingly delayed by heat conduction across a wall of decreasing thermal conductivity and/or increasing thickness. This effect is accentuated for low HTF flow rates (Re ~ 4.23). On the other hand, for a wail of given thickness and thermal conductivity, the effect of increasing the HTF flow rate on the melting process becomes imperceptible for Re ≥ 4.23.
